Spy's Duty
by MoonPrincess623
Summary: Alternate Spy's Love. (this is a response to a reader who trashed Spy's Love, so here is the other side of the coin) It began with two tools seeking freedom from their chains. With each other they found their solace, but what other ending is there for a Hokage, the greatest tool of them all? In the end, all she had was her duty and Gaara. Full summery inside. FemNaruxGaara.


**Moon says** : So I had a Guest Reviewer completely trash the ending of my Spy Trilogy. There were some good points, I'll admit, but others...it seems the reader didn't really look to closely at a couple of things. People change. Sometimes things happen in their life that changes them, that makes them fucking tired; sometimes, people grow distant from a loved one who is miles away and someone else is _there_ when they need them. Maybe the main character likes to shove shit down and not think about it, and sometimes, that shit comes up.

But forget all that because Shika, Sasuke, and Neji were horribly written and so was Naruto. I turned her into a slut who just wanted to be with as many men as she could, who could hurt people she considered family. For starters, **O.o** (whoever you are), Naru didn't just say "Oh, Temari, my sister, I'm going to shit in your face and get together with the guy you have a crush on" or that "I'm pissed you get to close to him" (that was actually what Temari was kind of fearing). Naru didn't just magically fall in love with Shika. She had a connection with him, then something really bad happens, and she gets closer. She starts using him as a crutch; she's tired of losing people she cares for, and he's _**right there—someone she can depend on**_ **,** so she digs her claws into him, and doesn't want to let go. Is it her fault that, at that moment, she just needs that crutch and Gaara sees it as something else? Naru was fine with being friends with Shika (though she did think about being more)...until Gaara pushes it. And just because you don't see someone doesn't mean you don't bond: Shika and Naru exchanged letters and she confided in him during those 5 years (IIRC) – Second, harem and love triangles are stupid don't involve no love? Maybe _**you**_ haven't experienced life like some people, but love can be found anywhere and with anyone. Some people are okay with polygamy, others might not be. But you can love more than one person, and that is what tears Naruto apart because that shit snuck up on her. Besides, none of us lives a life where you can die any minute, and you've been traumatized by your job almost every moment. Shit happens, and people cope in different ways, people attach to others for different reasons.

Again, let's focus on how Naruto changes from someone who is all about loyalty even if the people don't deserve it to someone who goes against that. Did you ever think that was how this was always going to be? Naruto had enough, and said fuck it. She's tired of being hurt, tired of losing people, and she grabs close what is important to her. Not everything has to be sexual.

So, here is the sequel that takes out all those bad parts about Neji, Shika, and Sasuke. Here is what happens to a woman who loves Gaara so fucking much that she'll kill herself, who puts the village first (fuck herself in the process), who doesn't have any other emotions or thoughts besides Gaara, village (duty, I hate them, protect!, possibly break away?), Gaara, Gaara. Here is the story of how Naruto the Spy's story should end, her devotion to her village, bitterness there, and love for Gaara.

 **Summary** : She tried to break away, but that never was going to happen, was it? They were to break away together, and he was Kazekage now, leaving Naru still trapped within her duty, her nindo. When Akatsuki finally makes the move the Shinobi world dreaded, Naru knows how it ends. "Was there any other ending than Death? We are Shinobi; we are _death_. Come, Kakashi, let's get our names on this blasted stone."

 **WARNINGS** : I do not own Naruto. This is a response, as said above, to a reviewer. Here is the dark, true, ending of a Spy and her duty. Listen to Shaman Harvest's "The End of Me"

 **Spy's Duty: The End of Me**

My eyes opened, and I quickly took in my surroundings. My mind rebooted, and everything came rushing back to me.

I had just stopped Itachi from making a stupid mistake along with this foolish little brother only to find myself collapsed a few minutes later.

I found myself in a hospital room alone. I had no doubt that would be changing soon, and I was at a disadvantage.

There was nothing attached to me, so it was easy to get up and about. Whatever had been wrong with me, probably some of the poison still left over (what else could it be?), had be purged from my system so there was no need for an IV. A quick search of the room led me to the closet which held my Shinobi gear.

As soon as I finished putting it on, the door opened. I quickly got one of my swords into position only to find it useless.

It was Itachi and his foolish little brother followed by the Hokage.

None of them seemed surprised that I had put myself in a corner and was armed against them. Tsunade only snorted before she spoke. "An interesting read about these two. All your work, I suppose. They have been cleared and will sit down with someone latter to give their reports. They refused to do anything until we knew you were okay."

Those blue eyes of hers looked worried before my Hokage caught and steeled herself. "Your identity as Kitsune has been exposed to the enemy as well as your allies. It seems, though, that Akatsuki has done nothing with the information for now."

I straightened up and came to attention. "Our next priority, Hokage-sama, is to get these two to the point that they can fight with us. Itachi needs medical attention, your specific attention, for his illness. I healed the little that I could, but I am not a medic. Sasuke needs to be checked over to make sure that he doesn't have it as well. Once done, I would suggest that we take the fight to Akatsuki before they have time to rally and attack. If we hit them quick and separately, then we might have a chance to take them out before it gets worse."

Tsunade looked sad for a moment but nodded when I finished. "That is a plan. The pervert has already been sent off on a recon mission to gathered what information he can about the leader of Akatsuki, so when he returns, we take what information we have and begin planning. Until then, get some rest. Actual rest," she added with a raised eyebrow.

I wanted to snort and let the feelings of her worry and care wash over me, but the feelings of betrayal came back.

When this was over, I knew I needed to take Shika's advice and talk with them.

But today wasn't that day.

~Spy's Duty~

A tool shouldn't care about other people. Emotions only damage them and make them less able to do their duty.

I should have remembered that.

When I left the hospital, I found Shika who was not looking so good. This was one of my precious people. He was my best-friend. He had been there for me for years, even if it wasn't physically. He was the one who kept me grounded in Konoha when I left with Ero-Sennin.

How was I supposed to comfort him when he always did it for me? I was too damaged to do it, and I had no idea what to do.

Shika never asked for it. Instead, he tried to get me to come to terms with something myself. "I can never talk with Asuma-sensei again; never tell him anything. If something was wrong between us, I can never sort that out. But you can."

I had no idea what he was talking about, and I really didn't want to know. I wasn't aware of any issues I had with people, so if I did, that shit was buried.

Shika gave me a scroll that I had sent him during our letter exchanges, claiming that I gave it to him for safe-keeping. "You said you trusted me to know when the time was right, and now it is because soon, there won't be a time."

After I opened that scroll and the memories came back to me, I really didn't want precious people at all.

During my training trip, Jiraiya had let it slip when he got drunk one night that he had one regret in his life and it wasn't his former teammate. It was me.

Bastard was my godfather. He could have taken me in as a child, loved me, cared for me, but, instead, he left me alone. I had begun to look at him as if he was my father, and then to know that he could have been? That he could have taken me in and loved me, and that I wouldn't have been this fucked up tool?

My whole world had started falling apart, and to make it worse, Tsunade was my godmother. Both of those bastards were in Konoha when I was born but left the day after when they were sure that I was okay and stable.

They abandoned me.

In that moment and in the remembering, I truly wanted to be under Danzou's care.

Before I could even come to terms with this shit, though, an ANBU summoned me to Tsunade, and in her office were the elder Toad summons coming to tell us about Jiraiya's death. Dead at the hands of a former student.

For a brief second, I was jealous of Pein. A part of me wanted to kill the perverted bastard myself.

Instead, I was angry, so fucking angry that I almost activated Kurama's Chakra.

Shika reached his arm to touch me, Tsunade tried to talk to me, but I decided enough was enough and I ran.

I found myself in the Valley of the End, and I destroyed that place. In the process of letting my rage out, I finally released Kurama in his little fox summon form.

In the wake of the destruction and the letting out of my pain, I came to a few realizations.

Neither Gaara nor I was right.

We cannot love only ourselves, but we also can't let others in either.

Or at least the ones that would hurt you in the end.

Itachi, Sasuke, Shika...my make-shift parents, they all let me down. They hurt me. They all left me.

The only one who would never abandon me was Gaara. Because of our Bijū, there was no possible way for that to happen.

In the end, I had two absolutes.

Duty and my Bijū (and all that comes with it, including my mate) were all this Shinobi had.

I was luckier than most as I had the Bijū who would never betray me, never hurt me which was what other Shinobi did not have. It was one of the benefits for all the pain being a Jinchūriki caused me growing up.

I would go back to my duty and give it everything I had. Because until I was with Gaara, all I had was my duty.

No more precious people, only duty.

Duty cannot hurt me this much...

~Spy's Duty~

Even though I vowed to not let those precious people in anymore, I felt that as Shikamaru's comrade, a fellow Shinobi of Konoha, I owed it to him to help him get revenge against the one who murdered his sensei.

The Nara wasn't stupid; he knew something was different when he came to me asking for help with the code Jiraiya sent us beyond his death. I didn't connect with him, tease, smile, nothing.

I could tell it hurt him, my distance, but he accepted it. Maybe he thought it was punishment for what he had done to me.

Before we parted, though, he did say that if he knew Jiraiya has been killed...Nara didn't finish that thought because he seemed to know it was useless.

While he was with his Akatsuki member, Kakashi and I took down the other one. Kakashi never said a word about my new attitude. He, of all Shinobi, understood exactly how I felt. Kakashi knew there was relief in giving up feelings, of others, to exist only in one's duty.

It was after killing these two Akatsuki members that the Hokage called me in and asked me to head a Shinobi Council meeting to discuss the rest of the members of Akatsuki.

In fact, Hokage even mentioned that there would be a Kage Summit where our plans would be shared so a forward assault was on the table with the five Shinobi Nations.

Gaara was Kazekage...he would be there.

Good. I needed some support especially from someone who understood me completely.

Fortunately for all of us, the meeting only got through the various bodies of Pein before we received a message that said bodies were coming at us.

The Nara head immediately started diving out who would do what, and when he came to the end, only I was left.

He looked at with those eyes of his that only hinted at the genius behind them. I knew he was considering me; there were so many things he probably wanted to say to me. Shikamaru was probably one of those things, but we both knew that now was not the time nor, with my current mindset, would it ever be.

Shikaku seemed to come to that conclusion as he started at me because he just seemed to deflate for a few seconds. "There is so much that we need to discuss, but right now, I think we need to focus on staying alive. I need you to go find the real body. The real Pein must be controlling these bodies from a distance but close enough that his Chakra can still connect with them to do the devastating things that they can do. You're an Uzumaki, trace the original source back to him and deal with him."

My eyes hardened at the order, and I nodded my acceptance. I was a tool, and this was my job. Protect the village quickly before too much damage occurred.

Before I left the room, I used my Transformation Jutsu to give me a different look. After all, I was a very unique person, physically, and just one look and the enemy would know me.

Carefully, I set out through the village and went from one battle to the other, watching, _looking_. Each had different Chakra...as if they were different people. So did that mean Pein was doing something similar to the Second Hokage's bring the dead back to life Jutsu?

Either way, they all had different Chakra, but there was a trace of something else in there. Foreign Chakra that has been adapted to become familiar. Kind of like a Jinchūriki in a way.

With that in mind, I sat down in a isolated corner and tried to gather as much Nature Chakra as I could, but time was of the essence, so I made a decision.

While training on the Toad mountain, I had a contingency plan that came into play after the whole Sasori battle. I created quick Bunshin and sent it off to the mountain, a few seconds later, I had memories of another Bunshin taking its place and one already there popped.

I had weeks worth of stored Nature Chakra. With my new Chakra and eyes, I quickly found two Pein bodies that were close and used my extra sensory abilities to _see_ the Chakra coming from them. It reminded me of Kankuro and his puppets.

There were faint strands of Chakra that I hadn't been able to see before. While making sure that I didn't have the attention of the other Pein's, I sent a message to Kakashi who had been following me in the shadows. My former Squad member would let everyone know I found the bastard.

I took out my swords, ready for a fight, and went straight for him.

When I did find him, I was confused at the emotions stirring in me. A part of me wanted to feel pity for him. Look at where his Ninjutsu took him. Pein was barely even there anymore.

Instead of feeling the pity, I hardened my heart against my fellow Uzumaki—it was obvious considering his hair color and the fact he was pulling the damn Jutsu off in the first place. Only someone with Jinchūriki type level of Chakra or an Uzumaki could actually have enough to manage all those bodies doing the amount of Jutsu that they do.

A female, his old teammate, tries to stop me, but I caught her off guard with my right sword. She was dead as soon as the blade pierced her.

Then it was just me and Negato.

Neither of us said anything for a while, just seizing each other up.

Negato, though, spoke first. "I can see from the look in your eyes that trying to explain what I'm doing is useless. You are too far gone," his voice was scratchy and unused.

I wonder how long he hid behind those other bodies.

"Right now," I replied, "All that makes me up, that keeps me going, is my Duty and my Bjū, I confess. "You took Gaara, my mate, and tried to kill him for whatever reason. You try and take me, no doubt to do the same to me, for the same reason. And that reason doesn't matter. In your want of us, you have attacked my village and my only precious person. Think of the death I grant you a mercy. Obviously, whatever reason you had that made all this death and destruction justifiable wasn't worth it in the end."

I readied my blades as I looked into his eyes, and the acceptance of his death held my hand for a second.

In that moment, I realized that I respected Pein. He lived and died for his reason, for whatever he decided was worth any means necessary.

"As soon as I sensed you here, I withdrew my Paths of Pein. They will be useless once I am dead. In the amount of time it took you to find me, not much damage was done to your village, though I cannot say for the body count," my eyes narrowed at him as he continued, "but be aware, child, that by continuing to be the tool for these villages you are—" he choked on the blood as it filled his throat due to the swords I stabbed in him.

I didn't want to know the reason he did all this shit. I didn't care. He touched what he wasn't supposed to, and that was why he died. I didn't need to know anything else.

I wiped my blades on the woman's clothes and left the cave/tower thing before I made my way back to my village.

Before Jiraiya died, I probably would have felt bad about killing him before he finished, or at least, trying to talk him down. There might have been talks of peace too.

Really, Pein, what did you expect from a Shinobi who has given over to being a Tool?

With the world we live in, there will never be peace. Maybe moments of peace, but peace would never win the day unless there were no humans left in the world.

~Spy's Duty~

When I got back to the village, I found out the Hokage was in a comma because of a mass healing she tried to do.

That's when I found out from Shizune that the Hokage had named me her second in command, the next Hokage, and because of the state the village was in, we were on the brink of war and we had just been attacked, I took the reigns as Hokage.

I wasn't surprised as this had been my plan for years—ever since I rebuilt my pillars of self with Gaara. But I wasn't that person anymore. Instead, there was no Naru outside of her duty.

She rebuilt the village, from the damage one of the Pein Paths did (bastard actually did smash an entire seconds of the village, and kept the Shinobi in line.

It was Danzo and the Fire Daimyo that pissed me off. They tried to take away my duty from me.

Danzo was dead before morning hit, and no one figured out it was me. Sai was a great help in that regard, and when we found out what lay beneath those bandages, Danzo was burned and his crimes were made public.

I left the disposal of his body to Sasuke and Itachi; other than the situation with Danzo, I didn't have much to do with them.

Shikamaru stayed away from me, but sometimes, I could feel his eyes on me. His Chakra always was hesitant when he was in my sensor range, as if he wanted to come see me, talk to me, but in the end, he always stayed away.

Good. He was always one that confused me, and I didn't need that shit now. I didn't need anything to confuse me or distract me from my mindset now.

Because if anyone could break through, it would be him.

When I got the reminder/official letter for the Kage Summit, I took two guards me with. My old ANBU squad. I put Shizune and the Jōnin Commander in temporary charge of the village while Kakashi and Bunka came with me. I had Sai keep an eye on the ROOT while I was away. That would be something I dealt with in depth when I came back.

I was the first to arrive to the meeting, besides our host, so I picked the second seat to the right, and sat there with Kage hat on. I wanted no one to know it was me.

Really, what I wanted to do was surprise Gaara, but I should have known that it wouldn't be like that. Considering I knew the very moment in entered the compound, I should have known that he would have come directly to me, and when he saw me sitting there all by my lonesome (my guards nonewithstanding).

The moment he came into the room there was a spilt second for a pause before he was behind me, hugging my body to him despite the fact I was sitting in the chair.

I relaxed into his hold, just breathed him in before he let go of me and spun me around. As I titled my head back, letting him see me even with the hat on, I gave him a small smile.

Seeing the smile on my lips, even small, gave rise to a small tilt of his own lips. I closed my eyes and just breathed him in only to find he took that moment to steal a kiss from me.

I was startled at what he did only to have Gaara retreat as we heard a giggle from a female I didn't know.

"Tsunade-sama, I didn't know you were into men younger than you," was the first words I heard from the giggled woman.

Gaara turned around, raising an eyebrow but saying nothing. I peaked out from behind Gaara's body, giving her my own raised eyebrow.

The woman blinked before raising her hand to her mouth. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama, I didn't know that Tsunade had already passed on the hat."

I didn't know how to react to this. I knew I couldn't get upset and strain Konoha's relationship with Mizugakure (for they were the only one I heard that had a female Kage), so I said nothing, only nodding my head slightly.

As she moved past us to sit on my right, I turned back to Gaara as he did me. I squeezed his hand and watched as he took the seat next to me on my left.

The others started coming in after that and my kiss was forgotten—or at least, moved to the back of our thoughts because the Raikage started the meeting.

I had to stop myself from getting annoyed at the man. All he was doing was ranting and going on about how we needed to get control of our Shinobi and stop having Nuke-Nins. I kept my mouth shut as I did kind of agree with him, but when he started railing on the old man of the group from Iwa, I had to say something.

"Raikage-sama, please tell me I heard you incorrectly," I spoke up and gained his attention. "I must have misheard you because there is no reason as to why the Tsuchikage hired Akatsuki instead of trusting in his own Shinobi to do their duty to their village and Kage."

Raikage snorted and looked amused as he too started thinking of what it meant that the Tsuchikage hiring outside his village. That was stupid. It cost coin to do that, coin that he could have brought to his village and kept within it.

The Tsuchikage looked embarrassed before he started going on about my age. I sighed before looking at him as if I was bored.

"Some of us have accomplished things despite our young age. I am the third youngest Kage, right after Gaara and the Fourth Mizukage. I became an ANBU before I was eight years old. I'm sure the lot of you have heard of Kitsune?" my voice matched my face and didn't give anything away as I pulled out my ANBU scroll, pulled out my mask, and threw it in the middle of all of us keeping there with Wind Chakra. "I am a Wind Mistress, Seal Mistress, and creator of quite a few Jutsu. One of which allowed me to transform my body into that of an adult. Add to that I am the heir of the Namikaze, and through it, the Senju Clan. I am also the blood heir of Uzushiogakure."

I let that settle for a second before the old man asked for my name. "I am Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki, Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. And just so it is known, I took action against the Akatsuki before any of you realized it was a theat. I created a Seal that took all the Jinchūriki out of action from whatever plan this organization had for the Chakra of the Bijū. Let's not forget, Raikage, that you are not the first to ask for help concerning Akatsuki."

I knew he could hear the other words I didn't say. Don't out all high and mighty because all of us agreed to this.

"Naruto is correct. Years ago, when I became Kazekage, I asked for help from all of you against the Akatsuki, but none but Konoha came to Suna's aid," Gaara inserted with that calm sexy voice of his.

Of course, I couldn't enjoy our take down of the old idiots because my sensors went off.

Something was coming; my eyes narrowed as I straightened completely and was on guard. The top of Gaara's gourd was off as soon as I felt something off. When that happened, I had almost thought the others would think it was a declaration of war, but instead, they took it as exactly what it was: a warning against something coming.

I hadn't felt this Chakra but once before. It was before I ran off to take care of the foolish Uchiha brothers.

"Tobi was it? I apologize for our last meeting as I was in kind of a rush to get to two foolish Shinobi of mine before they did something I didn't like," I said in mock polite, but it caused the Raikage to narrow his eyes at me before they snapped to the figure in the middle of the table that suddenly appeared.

"It's alright, _Hokage-chan_. I'm impressed actually as I wasn't aware that either Itachi Uchiha or Sasuke Uchiha were undercover Nuke-Nin. Clever, my dear. Though, I have to say I truly did not expect you to murder your own cousin, tsk, tsk," Tobi wagged his finger with each tsk.

There were gasps and other noises as they considered what he said, all I did was gave him a challenging look. "He threatened my village. It is my duty as a Shinobi to eliminate threats as my Hokage and I see fit," I added as I remember Gaara, that stupid bet, and my lack of killing him.

"You are the entire opposite of Pein. Tell me, did you listen to him rant about how he was doing all this for peace?" Tobi questioned, his voice sounded lightly curious.

I propped my left arm on the table, holding my chin in the palm of my hand. "I didn't let him finish because it didn't matter his reasons. He stole Gaara, tried to torture him, kill him, attempted destruction of my village in the attempt to do the same to me. He deserved more than a mercy death I gave him," I could imagine how cold my voice was and the affect it brought along with my face.

Tobi chuckled at me or my words. I couldn't tell. "So if I want to drain all the Bijū chakra out of both of you, you're going to attempt to kill me as well?"

I leaned a bit closer to him, "Attempt? No. I _will_ kill you," there was no doubt in my voice. "Gaara belongs to me, and if you try and take him from me... I wonder if you've ever been tortured by Tsukiyomi? I have, curious when Itachi unlocked his Mangekyou Sharingan, and what I will do to you will make that Jutsu be like a Genin have a play at you."

I think my eyes even flashed red at this.

"Naruto," Gaara said my name, stern as if to call me back for the bloodlust.

I sat up then and titled my head to the right, just waiting for the bastard to respond to my threat.

"I am sure that you have been told, but I will be happy," Gaara did not sound happy; instead, he just sounded neutral, "to repeat the knowledge. You can no longer take our Bijū because we have fully merged with them thanks to the Hokage's Seals. From the reports I have been given, all Jinchūriki's have merged fully. So holding the other six hostage is useless and pointless."

I could feel the emotion in Tobi's chakra as if he already knew this, and it made me want to laugh. I defeated this bastard, and he could do nothing.

"There has to be a way to reverse the process or at least take out the Bjū chakra," Tobi pressed to which I just shrugged.

"From what I figured out from your statue, it looks for the differences between the host and Bijū chakra. Then, when the Bijū chakra is located, it sucks it out of the host. However, the problem is that the Seals I created merged the chakras together to the point you can't tell the difference between the two. So, unless you can separate the chakra and bypass or reverse my Seal, which I want to see you try—that's an Uzumaki based Seal—you are shit out of luck, Tobi. Release the Jinchūriki."

Tobi seemed out of words for a second before he continued, "Can you reverse it? You created it after all. You can create another that can do the same thing."

The Raikage didn't like where this was going. I'm sure he saw it as well as the rest of the Kage. If I was kidnapped and forced to create a Seal that undid mine, they would win. The big Kage slammed his chair back and was about to attack Tobi when I held up a hand to stop him.

"I have been tortured and trained by Ibiki and Anko as well as Itachi's Tsukiyomi. There is nothing you could do that could break me even if it was possible to create the Seal you ask for. There is only one Seal in existence that can undo something on this scale but trust me," I chuckled, "it won't do what you want. It'll do the opposite. I wonder what your plan will be when you find out that the very tools you need you just wiped out?"

Tobi's eye started spinning as his Sharingan came out, and it made me laugh. "Do you really think you can control me with that eye of yours? There is a difference between the Kyūbi's chakra and mine, idiot. A human's chakra is a bit different than a mass of chakra. A human has other...parts to it, if you will. You can control a hybrid, like you did the Fourth Mizukage, but you cannot control because my chakra is to mixed up in there. The protection a human's chakra offers fully protects me when Kyūbi's chakra isn't something separate from myself. But please," I wave my hands in between us, "go ahead and try to command me. Even if you managed to control me, I'd kill us all. You never fuck with a Seal Mistress."

That's when Gaara chuckles beside me. "You would fight him for control, and when creating a Seal, even just drawing it out, that level of distraction would kill everyone around you."

I smirked, showing emotion for the first time since Gaara kissed me. "Ah, remember when Kankuro was being an idiot?"

I heard a female snort behind me, "You have to be more specific, Naru-chan."

"There is a reason why Seal Masters come into battle with Seals premade, and only if there is absolutely no other choice do they do so in battle. Do it, please, I'd love to take you out," the smile one my face was dark but pleasant.

I could feel Gaara's chakra tense as I talked so casually about suicide, but I think he knew deep down that I wouldn't do that unless there was no choice.

I was too selfish to leave him alone.

Tobi then didn't seem to know what to do except declare war on us. When he left, the Raikage looked at me extremely seriously. "Are you absolutely sure that the Seals will hold up? That you can't and won't create a counter?"

My light eyes locked with his dark ones, "The only Seal I will create for him is one that will end with him dying."

That was, after all, my last resort plan. I had it in place in case something happened and the bastard did get the Bijū chakra and we couldn't stop him. Kurama really didn't want a Jūbi running around.

Right now, the plan was to use the Uzumaki Funeral Seal with the help of the other Jinchūriki, but if I had to, for Gaara, for my village, for my fucking duty, I would do the Seal alone.

After all, it either needed a massive amount of chakra or an Uzumaki.

The goal was to live, after all. Even if a Shinobi is supposed to used and used until there is nothing left except a death that will beanift the village...I wanted to live for Gaara.

I just prayed to whatever kami there were that I didn't have to do that Jutsu alone.

~Spy's Duty~

As I sat watching the stone, running down through the names as I always did, I felt someone approach me from behind. I wanted to laugh. Here we were, back where we started.

This was the place where Kakashi truly saw _me_ for the first time, before we were put on the same squad, he saw Kitsune here, in front of the memorial stone. This is where he met Naru before their first Squad meeting where she was trying to find some sort of will to do her duty and play Genin.

Here, years later, I sat at the stone that bares so many names of men and women who have fulfilled their duty, died to do so. Here, I sat wondering if I can do the same.

Can I die in this final battle, saving my people, my village?

What about Gaara?

In the end, it all comes down to Duty. I told Gaara that the best way to get our revenge was to be the best damn tool ever. To be the strongest, most powerful tool that the village had, and then to make a difference with that power.

I would probably be the shortest lived Hokage that Konoha would ever see. I held this mantle less than a year, though I will admit that I did share it with Tsunade for a bit. Though, she had stepped down at Pein's attack, she helped and did as much as she could.

A shinobi's true purpose is their duty to their village, their Kage, their precious people.

My Duty was to attack the enemy and kill them before they did too much damage with this war.

My heart knew how this would end because how could a tool's story end any other way? I knew how I would end this battle. A part of hoped that I could live as there were people who depended on me, cared for me, and even loved me.

But Duty comes before precious ones. I needed to protect them because this was all I could give them.

I had two options, and I hoped to hell that my last resort wouldn't be used at all, but if it did, that I would have help pulling it off. If not...

If not, then Gaara would be alone.

Tsunade saw me as a daughter, though, truth be told, I didn't know what to feel with her. She had betrayed me. As did Jiraiya. They lied to be, abandoned me, left me alone when I had no one! They were the very reason I was the tool that I am.

That I had been forced to grow up without true love in my life. Not until Gaara. Temari and Kankuro cared as if I was really their sister, Sasuke and Itachi meant something to me, as did Shika, but I was afraid.

I wouldn't have put it past Sasuke, Itachi, and Shika to leave me too, but they didn't—at least they haven't yet. Despite the distance I have put between us, they are still there, n the background, waiting. All I did was fail them. One of the best decisions of my life was when, after Ero-Sennin was murdered, I threw them away.

A tool had no room in her life for precious people.

A tool had no time or mental energy to be confused when they hurt you.

Jiraiya knew all these years what he did to me, but he ignored it and pretended that it never happened. Tsunade too. Bitch had the nerve to mother me after we met again when I searched to make her Hokage...

Duty was all I had left, so I embraced it. I helped my village heal after Pein's assault, helped tie the five Kage together to defend against Akatsuki, and here we were.

The battle was starting and all I had were two things:

Duty and Gaara.

Duty as Hokage...

Hokage. Honestly, with the history I had, and the words I once said to Tsunade, I never believed that I would be Hokage. I respected the fuck out of the position, but to take it? I guess my path as a tool was always to end up here.

I had chosen to be Hokage; I accepted the position.

All Hokage are destined to die; that is one certainty they all had when they choose to take the position.

I had once said those words.

I had once said many words.

If only I had listened to myself. How many times did I warn others not to care about others?

A shinobi, a good one, only was about duty. I had forgotten myself when I became a Genin. I let myself become the child I had left behind when I agreed to start training all those years ago.

Itachi had been my first mistake. Then that morphed into Shika and Sasuke, followed by Gaara. But I made promises to Gaara...

I could not deny him without denying myself. I loved him. I had formed this new self around him and the love I felt for him and the goal of breaking away. To become more of myself, and damn it, if Gaara didn't do that.

Gaara was like me in every way. He was me.

The world was falling apart around me; Akatsuki was gaining ground, and all I wanted to do was focus on him.

I wanted to take Gaara and run, but I couldn't.

In the end, there was no breaking away.

If I broke away, then how could I look Gaara in the face? After everything I preached to him...

I was the reason he had chosen to take the path of breaking away and become the Kazekage.

How could he do that? I never did understand it. Becoming Kage meant we would be chained to the village even more than we are now...

But maybe that was the point. If we are Kage, then do we not show them that we are more than just a tool for them to use? As Kage, we answer to no one. We can make the village better than it was...make sure there are no more tools like us...

As those thoughts, this understanding, went through my mind, I truly begun to understand and I felt some sort of peace.

I had led Gaara to this point, and it was my turn to follow after him.

I felt a peace inside of me them as everything came into such a focus.

Gaara. Duty.

They were tied together.

Duty did not have to be so soul consuming as it once was. When I was Hokage, I was in control. I could truly make my nindo a reality. I could truly be true to myself. Deep down, I was afraid of breaking away because of what it would mean.

Breaking away would mean throwing away myself.

Because what was I other than this tool, this Shinobi?

But if I was Kage...then I could be something more.

Yes. I had once said we should mourn the dead, respect the dead, and live for the dead by doing our duty as Shinobi.

Yes, it was up to us, the living, to carry on. One day to pass it on to the next generation.

Duty was everything.

My duty was to my village and to Gaara.

They were my everything.

And things were coming to a full circle. Back then when I took on the mission as a Genin, all I had was my Bijū and my duty.

And this was how it was going to end.

"Still no lovers on this stone, Kakashi," I chuckled darkly as I suddenly remembered our conversation that morning so many years ago.

"You know how this story ends?" Kakashi started, but then he stopped as if the words couldn't come. There was something else on the edge of his tongue, but I cut him off.

"Was there any other ending than Death? We are Shinobi; we are _death_. Come, Kakashi, let's get our names on this blasted stone."

~Spy's Duty~

I didn't have to use my last resort on Tobi, who was actually Obito (I did not see that coming at all).

No. Between Kakashi and I, the two of us somehow talked the bastard out of what he was going to do. Subjugate us all to a false peace.

The only peace I would ever have would be when I was dead or in Gaara's arms, but it seemed, after Obito gave up, Zetsu—how the fuck did that thing become part of him?—used the Rinnegan Obito stole from Pein and brought Madara Uchiha back to life.

I knew I should have burned that damn body! This was my fault. Even with Sasuke and Itachi, Shikamaru helping too along with the other Shinobi. We didn't have access to the other Kage because they were the ones fighting Madara first.

Yeah, while we were fighting Obito, the bastard had someone use the Second Hokage's stupid resurrection Jutsu.

Fuck!

After Obito was dead, which apparently is the price to bring someone back to life, Madara turned his eye on us.

Zetsu lead him to us, "Master, did you kill the red-headed Kage?"

Madara looked like he didn't care, "Does it matter?"

My blood froze as the meaning of these words started to make sense.

"Because he holds the Ichibi. The blonde here," Zetsu pointed to me, "holds the Kyūbi. For your plan, we need both of them, and if you killed the male, then we can't extract the chakra."

Madara truly looked at me then. "Obito told me that you created an impossible Seal. Uzumaki are good at that. It will not take much for you to create another one."

I actually laughed at that. "You can't force me to do shit especially if you killed Gaara. Do you honestly think I would live in a world without him?"

Madara then preceded to use my words as an invitation to attack us.

And fuck it if we didn't try. Even with two Uchiha by our sides with their Mangekyou Sharingan along with everything in power that I got from Kurama merging with me. I was trying to stall for time. If the others could get here...where was Zabuza and Haku? Let alone that fucking idiot Killer B? They were supposed to be here already.

It was that damn Rinnegan! None of us had anything to combat it. The Uchiha's had the Sharingan and Neji had his Kekkai Genaki, but it wasn't enough. We were barely keeping up with him, and I really couldn't do shit.

Fuck! I screamed in my head as didn't dodge Madara in enough time. It was only Taijustu but the fucker was a master. I was thrown away from the others and actually knocked out when they head smacked against the ground a certain way.

I hadn't felt this helpless since I couldn't do shit in my real, Genin body.

When I came to, Itachi, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kakashi, and what looked like Neji had become a sort of shield for me.

They were still alive as when I stood up they were trying to do the same.

Idiots. Didn't they understand that I couldn't feel anything for them? Or was this something that you did for friends?

I was going to die for comrades...so I guess it was the same.

I could feel Kankuro and Temari approach us and attempt at backup, but it was unnecessary.

For the last time, I looked around me for the others, even went as far as to try and feel them, but I came up with nothing.

When all else fails, go for the last resort Seal. Learned that from the best, after all. I faded and reappeared in front of them between them and Madara, and knelt down in front of him.

With what was left of my Chakra, I activated the Seal we had placed on the ground. A bright white of light engulfed us, shoving those behind me away.

I let loose five words that had them my former precious ones protesting, "Still want that Seal?"

~Spy's Duty~

Gaara could barely believe that he had survived Madara's assault let alone the other Kage, but what he didn't know was how.

A Shinobi he did not recognize bid him come quickly, as well as the other Kage, "Uzumaki-Sama is facing Madara by herself!"

Despite the protesting their bodies gave, the five Kage raced after the Shinobi leading them. When they got the devastated clearing, they saw a group of seven Shinobi, ones they all recognized as the other Jinchūriki, approach from the other side as they did.

Gaara's eyes went quickly from the pure white circle that quickly returned to green—pure grass—to Shikamaru who was at the edge being held back by Temari. Uchiha was fighting his brother, doing his damnest to reach the once white circle.

Gaara approached quickly and heard the Uchiha curse his other brother. "Damnit, Itachi! I could have saved her," there was something broken in his voice.

Temari was sobbing as she told Shikamaru that she was sorry.

"What has happened?" Gaara demanded to know as he looked around again, seeing the army of Shinobi but no Naru or Madara. "Where is Naru? Madara?"

Temari started crying harder as she fell to the ground. The Nara looked at her then at the green circle, trying to decide something.

The Uchiha turned toward Gaara and glared at him. "This is your fault! She did this for you! She's—" those black as the void eyes turned red only for a second before closing, and it looked the young Uchiha was struggling to breath.

Gaara didn't understand, didn't _want_ to understand.

If only he hadn't released Shukaku in animal summon form (like Naru had done with Kurama), Gaara would demand that the Bijū find their mate.

The Hyūga that his Naru fought during the Chūnin Exams came over to him, and it was clear that the news he carried was hurting him. "Naru fought Madara, but she couldn't beat him. Not with him welding the Rinnegan. We stalled for as long as we could, but she couldn't wait for the others," his pupiless eyes looked toward the other Jinchūriki before back to Gaara.

"What are you saying?" Gaara pressed, his voice was hard and cold. Daring the bastard in front of him to say what Gaara's heart dreaded.

Neji didn't respond, nor did any of the others around him. Gaara was about to kill every single one of them, or at least torture them, until they answered him when a fox summon appeared before him.

Naru had never told him the names of the summons, but this one...

The fox tried not to let his voice break, but couldn't hold himself together. "I was told to give you this."

Gaara didn't even have the strength to bend down and get the letter. What was left of his Chakra was used with his sand to get the letter to his hand.

His name was on the front, and his heart started cracking. When he took in the words, everything shattered.

 _And words fall short,_

 _They fall right through me.  
I can't stomach the taste of them.  
Where did they go?  
Where did they go?_

 _I'm sure you know how this story ends.  
I've just been wondering where it all began._

Where else could this story have begun? It began with two tools finding strength in each other only when we got the gates of hell, I couldn't stomach the taste of you joining me.

Forgive my lies, forgive the broken promises.

 _I know I deserve to suffer,  
I've earned to be alone.  
But like a thief who sells a lover  
for a handful of shiny stones.  
So I wrote you a letter  
you won't find until I'm gone.  
For a song given to the devil  
he's come to take me home._

So, I made sure you jumped off before we got to the gates of hell...with a Seal to my lips...


End file.
